5.3 Mise en place: everything in its place

Mise en place (said to rhyme with "cheese on sauce") is "a French term that literally means to put in place". It covers all the preparation done before a restaurant opens, so that each dish on the menu has its ingredients and tools ready at the station.

Four steps

Setting up mise en place follows four steps:

• Gather the tools.
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• Gather the ingredients.
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• Prepare the raw ingredients: wash, trim, cut and measure them.
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• Get the equipment ready, for example by heating the oven or pan, or lining a sheet pan with parchment paper.
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What gets done before service

Before service, cooks:

• chop vegetables
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• wash salad greens
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• make sauces and stocks
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• trim proteins and cut them into portions
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• perhaps also prepare garnishes and cook some ingredients sous-vide
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The aim is to finish as much work as possible early, as long as quality does not suffer. Then, during service, all of a cook's attention can go into putting together fresh plates.

Each prepared item should sit in the same place at the station every time. When it does, a cook can build a dish quickly, almost without looking.

Making enough

Once the lunch or dinner rush starts, nobody can pause to make a missing ingredient. Picture a strip steak on the menu, served with béarnaise sauce. If too little sauce was made in advance and it runs out with three steak orders still waiting, those steaks cannot be sold, and some guests leave unhappy.

A way of thinking

Mise en place is more than a list of jobs. It is a habit of thinking ahead: knowing which tasks must be done and in what order, and acting before problems arise instead of reacting to them. A cook who works this way controls the kitchen, rather than being controlled by it.

Small things help that frame of mind. A clean, unwrinkled uniform and proper headwear help a cook feel and look professional. The station must be ready before service and must stay clean and tidy all through it. Cleaning as you go keeps it that way, because a messy station is a sign of messy thinking.

Beyond the station

The same idea reaches past the line. Front-of-house staff serve guests better when they plan ahead in the same way. Managers use it in purchasing, inventory, cost control and payroll. A food business runs well only when the kitchen, the dining room and the management all work this way together.